Correction: This editorial was corrected on April 26, 2024, to say that the use of ID.me is optional.
Before the COVID-19 lockdowns, the first week of the semester was a time of reviewing syllabi, getting an introduction to the course and getting acclimated to the work ahead. Post lockdown, it has become a time of weeding out which students are real people and not just clever algorithms in disguise.
Bots looking to siphon resources from colleges throughout the country not only harms taxpayers but students as well, in time, opportunities and money, according to an article in Forbes, “How Higher Education Became The Target Of Bots, Fake Accounts And Online Fraud.”
Time is often wasted in class trying to form an accurate roster. Prospective students are often discouraged from enrolling in classes that appear full, affecting opportunity. Money is wasted when bots engage with college advertisements, websites or forms, skewing data needed to accurately advertise to prospective students, resulting in more money spent to attract fewer paying students leading to higher costs for everyone, according to the Forbes article.
This is a major problem that affects students who should have personal incentive to mitigate this behavior. Fortunately, a taskforce has been created by California Community Colleges (CCC) to find a solution. They recently began to implement one such solution that promises to slow the bleeding at the source—a potentially powerful tool largely unknown to students and faculty called ID.me.
To the outside observer, the problem looks like one large scheme, but it is two with similar symptoms. The first and more obvious one is that of bots enrolling in classes to obtain student aid, most notably in Pell grants, according to the Forbes article. The more surprising one is that of scammers enrolling for the singular aim of obtaining an “.edu” email address, which they then sell on the dark web. These email addresses are sought after due to the many discounts and sometimes free services offered to students.
Community colleges are particularly susceptible to these types of scams due to a lower barrier of entry when compared to four-year colleges and universities, and they have become significantly more prevalent post-pandemic due to the higher number and easier access to online classes.
One of the easier ways to stop these imposters is a unified verification system that has already been implemented. ID.me is an internet security program that specializes in identity verification. New students will be some of the few who are familiar with the program because it is optional for all new California community college students.
Pierce College should be bringing awareness to this new system as much as possible. This is a rare instance when all colleges in the state have a common goal and a clear path to it. For Pierce, it should be an easy decision.
In what other situation in the college setting does spending funds on a call-to-action campaign directly save the school more funds in wasted labor while simultaneously reducing the stress of its entire teaching staff and student body? The return on investment should be apparent.
But, information about “ID.me” has been scarce to non-existent, not only on the college level but up to the California Community Colleges level, as well. Nothing could be clearly found on either site.
Presenting the information online would be a boon to the entire Pierce community.
